


do you realize we're floating in space?

by gaymumbling



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 3racha and seungmin are on the baseball team together, 90s au because i Can, High School AU, M/M, Woojin is mentioned, astronomy class is important to the plot, baseball player jisung, cool nerd minho, this is gay, woochan is there but its not front and center so im not tagging it officially bc i love myself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 07:25:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17803622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaymumbling/pseuds/gaymumbling
Summary: “Hey, bro, you good?” Chan asked, towel in hand.“Actually, I can’t stop thinking about...” Jisung started, interrupting himself with laughter at Chan’s reaction. Clearly, he had been expecting another noncommittal response. “About a boy.”or, Jisung plays baseball and succumbs to the "jock crushing on a nerd" tropetitle fromdo you realize?by the flaming lips





	do you realize we're floating in space?

**Author's Note:**

> hello and welcome to i blinked and suddenly this was the longest fic i have ever written  
> i hope you enjoy reading this as much i did writing it!!
> 
> for reference: woojin and chan are seniors; changbin and minho are juniors; and jisung is a sophomore (i guess lol this is kind of arbitratry ngl)
> 
> also (if you care) for the team: chan is pitcher, seungmin is designated hitter, jisung is center field, and changbin is shortstop (i couldn't resist)
> 
> one more thing, if you're curious, this is my baseball player!jisung inspiration and this was my minho inspiration uwu

Jisung was minding his own business. Since joining his high school’s baseball team freshman year, he had taken to eating with the other players at lunch, which included the boys who soon became his closest friends - Chan and Changbin. There they were sat, Jisung between the two older boys on their own plastic stools surrounding the folding lunch tables in the cafeteria, half eating and half chatting with the boys from the team who also shared their lunch period. Jisung was idly listening to a story told by Seungmin about a party he was dragged to that weekend, mostly shoveling food into his mouth like a starved animal, and letting his eyes wander around the vast room between bites.

“...right Jisung?” Seungmin said, noticing how spaced out the boy was.

“Oh yeah, of course,” he replied, earning snickers from the boys to his left and right and a smug grin from Seungmin. “What did I just agree to?”

“You’re planning to release a colony of lizards into the girls’ locker room before volleyball practice,” Changbin said through a smirk.

Jisung rolled his eyes.

“What’s going on in there?” Chan asked, ruffling Jisung’s hair.

“Nothing.”

“As usual,” Seungmin quipped, met by a glare from Jisung.

He sighed and returned to shoving fries into his mouth as if his life depended on it, not fully swallowing each mouthful before adding more.

“Yo, slow down, kid,” Chan said. “This is exactly how you choke.” The eldest slid the plate of fries towards himself and away from Jisung. He pouted but just moved on to his dry chicken sandwich instead, employing the same eating tactic. Chan rolled his eyes.

Satisfied that he had picked on Jisung enough, Seungmin went back to his story and Jisung went back to barely listening. He was fond of people-watching in the cafeteria, always just a little shocked that there could be so many people in his same age group and that they could all be so vastly different. Every day his eyes would land on a different person and often he would make up a little story for them in his head. The boy bent over a sketchbook may be an up-and-coming graphic designer testing out drawings for an album cover, or the group of girls gesturing wildly a couple of tables down may be hyping up their friend to stand up to the guy who’s cheating on her. His gaze landed on a boy wearing a blue hoodie, black baseball cap, and- wait, is that eyeliner? and ear piercings? Jisung stopped chewing for a beat, hoping his friends didn’t notice. Although Jisung noticed different people in the cafeteria every day, something told him that this boy was a new student altogether. Many of the subjects of his people-watching endeavors he’d seen before in the halls and in some classes (and sometimes at baseball games) but he was sure he hadn’t seen this boy before.

As if he could feel Jisung’s gaze resting on him, the boy looked up from his book and caught him staring. They both blushed, but the new boy recovered quickly and sent Jisung a wink. This time, Jisung really stopped chewing. And his friends noticed.

“What?” Seungmin asked, assuming Jisung was reacting to something he said.

“Nothing,” he replied, snapping his gaze to make eye contact with Seungmin. The younger raised an eyebrow. “Really, I wasn’t even listening to you.”

Seungmin scoffed.

“What, are you surprised?” Changbin asked. “He barely listens to us either, Minnie. It’s not personal.”

“And if it is?” Jisung teased, shoving the boy with a book and eyeliner from his mind.

“I’ll make sure there’s a colony of lizards released into your gym bag.”

He knew he was joking, but Jisung was admittedly a little worried given the perfectly crafted deadpan of Seungmin’s retort.

⚾ ⚾ ⚾

Jisung made it through the rest of his day, not exactly dragging his feet but with no particular spring in his step either. His main motivation was, of course, practice after school. Each class brought him closer to his favorite time of day, but each time he was in the hallway he found himself looking out for Eyeliner Kid. He told himself that he wouldn’t become some cliche that saw a person for the first time and subsequently let them take over his every waking thought, but to be fair, he wasn’t there yet. Sure, he barely listened to his teacher as he scribbled down notes from the board, but that wasn’t new, and he couldn’t possibly let this kid take up every single one of his thoughts because he was often preoccupied with game strategies and witty retorts to quips Seungmin made hours in the past.

Although he was not yet one kind of cliche, there was nothing stopping him from becoming another: the jock with a crush on a nerd. Honestly, some of his friends were already subscribed to this stereotype - after all, generalizations are often rooted in truth - but Jisung didn’t want to be too quick to assign Eyeliner Kid to a subcategory of high school student. If the nickname Jisung called him in his head was any indication, he would be much harder to stick in a box, which intrigued the baseball player. How many so-called “nerds” wore dark (yet classy) makeup with sparkly earrings to school?

As far as Jisung could tell, a grand total of one.

In any case, he was on the lookout for the new kid as soon as the bell rang at the end of each period. Since lunch, he hadn’t seen him once, but there were still two more classes left in the day and Jisung (foolishly, probably) hadn’t given up hope just yet.

Math came and went with Jisung managing to avoid writing a single number in his notebook, and he quickly made his way across the school building to get to his astronomy class. It was his favorite of the day, and just his luck that Eyeliner Kid was already sitting in Jisung’s usual seat by the time he came crashing through the door. At the sight of his present obsession, sitting in his seat no less, Jisung’s mind and body both came to a screeching halt. He stood in the doorway, staring, for a solid minute until another student not-so-subtly shoved him to the side so she could make it through the door.

Jisung blinked, then blushed as he remembered that he was openly gaping at this boy, probably with his mouth opening and closing like a suffocating fish the whole time. If the way the boy was specifically staring right at the book in front of him was any indication, Jisung decided that was exactly what was happening. After a couple of cleansing breaths, Jisung gathered his wits into a neat pile within his brain and strode over to the boy, a badly drawn picture of calm.

He cleared his throat and very poetically said, “Uh, that’s my usual seat.”

“What?” The kid looked up from his book. He was doing a very good job at pretending to read.

“That’s, ah, you’re sitting where I usually do.” Jisung said, scrunching up his face on the last word and reaching up to scratch his neck under his hood, which was situated rather far back on his head to let his long, dark brown bangs out.

The statement was met with silence.

“I mean, it doesn’t really matter, if you’re already settled I can sit somewhere else-” Jisung found himself rambling as his gaze was jumping around the other boy’s face, landing everywhere except for his wide brown eyes outlined in black.

“Oh! Oh, no, I’m sorry,” the boy said, leaning over to pick up his backpack from the floor next to him, “I can move, it’s no big deal.”

Jisung held out a hand to stop him. “I- I’m already standing, I’ll just sit here,” he said, making his way around the lab table to sit across from Eyeliner Kid. He smiled, but was already looking back at his book.

Before he knew it, the conversation was over - could you even call that a conversation? - and Jisung had forgotten to ask for his name. He sat in silence, staring at a poster on the wall just over the kid’s shoulder, not thinking of much in particular until he saw his lips start moving out of the corner of his eye. Jisung tuned back in just in time to hear him inform the teacher that he was a new student and that his name was Minho.

Huh. Minho.

Jisung tried really hard to try out his name a couple times without seeming like an absolute weirdo, and liked how the syllables traveled around in his mouth, almost propelling themselves forward as if they were trying to escape and embarrass Jisung by accidentally saying them out loud.

Minho’s head shot up from his book and looked at Jisung with his eyebrows raised. Jisung went pale. He must’ve said Minho’s name out loud. They made awkward eye contact and all Jisung wanted to do was slide down in his chair until he was sitting on the floor under the table. He floundered for a couple of minutes, glancing around the room, all the while realizing he was just making the whole situation worse. He shook his head, mumbled ‘never mind’ and made a point to pay close attention to what the teacher was saying.

Luckily for him, Jisung was genuinely interested in astronomy, so it wasn’t difficult to get absorbed in the couple of pages of reading in the textbook the teacher assigned. Even so, the blush didn’t completely leave Jisung’s face for the whole period.

The bell finally rang to signal the end of the day, and both Jisung and Minho were quick to gather their things, but just as the baseball player was high-tailing it toward the door he felt a tap on his shoulder.

“Hey, sorry, I didn’t catch your name?” Minho said when Jisung spun around.

Jisung told him.

“Okay, cool, sorry to be so quick, but today is my first day, obviously, and I was wondering if you could tell me where to go for the buses?”

“Yeah, if you go to the end of this hall and go down the stairs...” Jisung started, gesturing with his hands, before trailing off. “You know, I’m terrible at directions, do you want me to show you? Practice doesn’t start for 15 minutes.”

“That would be great, thank you,” Minho said. The boys started walking. “What sport are you practicing for?”

“I’m on the baseball team,” Jisung replied, glad they wouldn’t be walking in awkward silence. He spent the whole period reading with anxious thoughts in the back of his head, worrying that he’d ruined his chances to get to know Minho before they’d barely even presented themselves.

“Oh, that’s cool, my old school was pretty great at baseball.”

“Really?” Had Jisung’s team played against Minho’s school? Was there a chance they had already been in the same place at the same time?

Was this fate?

Before Jisung could get too deep into his thoughts, Minho said, “Yeah. Think you can measure up?”

The banter caught Jisung off guard. He sputtered for a second before recovering.

“Not to toot my own horn, but last year was one of the best seasons this school has had since my dad went here,” he said, not missing a chance to boast.

Minho chuckled. “If you say so,” he said, intentionally egging Jisung on.

“Hey, if you don’t believe me come to a game! We’re just in practice and a few pre-season games right now but it’ll only be another couple weeks until the real stuff starts.”

Jisung stopped himself from talking Minho’s ear off too much, and glanced over at him. There was a new expression on his face (granted, he hadn’t seen many expressions on his face to begin with), and Jisung could only read it as flustered.

“I’ll consider it,” Minho said. “I had some friends I went to games with but I don’t really know many people here yet.”

“If we keep talking, that shouldn’t be a problem. I could introduce you to my friends! A lot of them are on the team but there’s others who go to games.” Jisung grinned. “Don’t tell them this but we - the guys on the team - refer to them as our groupies.”

Minho let out a short, sharp yet cute laugh at that. “That might be nice.”

Too soon for Jisung’s taste, the two made it to the front doors of the school, where the buses lined up.

“Tell one of the people with a clipboard your bus number, and they’ll tell you how far down the line your bus is. Good luck!”

“Thank you,” Minho said, walking backwards through the doors to keep looking at Jisung. “See you tomorrow!”

“Yeah,” Jisung said, waving. He only realized he had been standing in that spot for the entire duration of dismissal when his phone buzzed with a text from Chan five minutes before practice started.

Jisung ran a hand through his hair. God, he was fucked.

⚾⚾⚾

Luckily, it was early in the week so the practice was only drills, and Jisung was able to get lost in the repetition. Before he knew it, hours had passed, and he and the rest of the team were making their way back into the locker room to shower and get ready to go home.

Chan intercepted Jisung while they were walking.

“Hey, you seemed spacier than usual today, is everything okay?” He asked, with brotherly concern in his features.

Jisung hesitated, and it was obvious.

“Hey, I’m only asking as your friend, not your captain. If it’s not harming you or anyone else whatever you say will stay between us.”

“It’s nothing yet, really, but I’ll keep you updated.” Chan raised his eyebrows at this. “I promise! You’ll be the first to know.”

Chan smiled his toothy smile and clapped Jisung on the back. “Love you, bro. Now let’s get clean.”

All of the team went through the motions of standing under the shower for a couple of minutes before toweling off and getting dressed. The boys sat around with towels around their shoulders while their friends finished up. Jisung kept quiet while some of the others made dinner plans and discussed homework they had in the classes they shared. He was happy to just observe, occasionally nodding at his friends as they passed by. Soon enough, he found his mind wandering to what Minho may have been doing at that moment in time and realized just how little he actually knew about Eyeliner Kid.

He didn’t know if he had any hobbies (besides reading and looking amazing in eyeliner), didn’t know if he had any siblings, and only knew he lived far enough from school to need a bus. Then again, so did most of the student body as their school was in the center of town and not located near much residential property.

Shit, Jisung didn’t even know Minho’s surname.

He found himself hoping, selfishly, that the new kid would be bad at astronomy so he could tutor him. Or that there would be a project soon they could partner up for. Maybe they could get close enough that Jisung could invite him to sit with the team at lunch. A boy could dream.

Suddenly, Jisung realized that there was a body in front of him. He must’ve been staring into space. Again. He rubbed his hand over his face and through his damp hair, and blinked to clear his head before looking up to meet Chan’s eyes.

“Dude, for real, are you good?” Chan’s dark curls were weighted down by the water left from the shower, and a few strands were dripping into his face. He had just thrown on a tank top and basketball shorts after washing up, and if Jisung hadn’t already been pining for a boy he barely knew, he may have been flustered.

Hey, his friend was attractive. And taken.

Jisung rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. Just got someon- something on my mind. No big deal.” He coughed, not fully believing himself.

Chan rubbed his towel over his head before settling it around his neck. “If you say so,” he said, reaching down to lightly hit Jisung on the top of his forehead. “For real, you can talk to me, dude.”

“I know,” Jisung smiled. “What are you having for dinner?”

The two ended up getting takeout with Changbin and Seungmin and eating it in Changbin’s car with the radio playing. They were all too exhausted and starving from practice to have much conversation, and they all were fine with the silent agreement to eat in comfortable silence. Jisung was preoccupied with mentally calculating how many hours he had until he could see Minho again, anyway.

The meal went by quickly. Afterward, Changbin drove the group back to school to pick up their cars, for those who could drive (read: Chan) then proceeded to take Jisung and Seungmin to their houses. The drivers of the group traded off, and that night was Changbin’s turn. The three left in the car made idle conversation during the short drive between each of their destinations, and in almost no time at all the car was pulling into Jisung’s driveway. His dog was barking excitedly from behind the open window, and he could see the lights on in the kitchen.

Jisung said thanks and goodbye to Changbin and made his way up the path to his door. He let his family know he was home, and went up to his room to do homework before collapsing into his bed.

⚾ ⚾ ⚾

The next few days passed in the same manner, with Jisung surviving until astronomy, chatting with Minho, then going through practice in a daze. Chan asked him if everything was okay at least five times per day, and Jisung really was grateful that his friend cared but couldn’t help but get annoyed at the repetitive nature of their conversations. There were worse things, though.

Thursday was when everything changed.

The astronomy teacher decided to assign the class a “mini-project” (whatever _that_ meant), due that Monday.

“Partners are not required, but if you choose to work together, be sure your pages aren’t the exact same. I want originality, people,” the teacher said, as the packet was going around the room. “Remember, plagiarism is illegal.”

He then sat on his desk, cross-legged, looking expectantly around the classroom.

“Well, get to it then!” He said, lifting his arms in a ‘let’s go!’ gesture.

Jisung rolled his eyes, and passed a packet to Minho. He leaned down to his backpack to get out a pencil, and looked back up to see Minho looking at him.

“So, do you want to work together?” He said it so easily. No fumbling, no stuttering. Jisung was floored and it must have shown in his face, which Minho mistook for a negative answer to the question. “I mean, we don’t have to, obviously, I just thought that since we’ve been chatting over the past few days-” Jisung cut him off with a small laugh.

 _There_ was the nervous boy Jisung knew lived under Minho’s cool nerd exterior.

“No, it’s okay, I want to work together,” Jisung said with a smile.

“Awesome, cool. You had me worried for a second.”

“Haha, sorry.” Now Jisung was blushing.

“Do you want to work on it after school tomorrow?” Minho asked. “Or not, if you have practice, because I totally get it-”

“Hey, don’t worry, it’s okay. I won’t have practice on Fridays until the real season starts. Tomorrow sounds great.”

“Cool.” Minho let a beat pass. “We could walk to the cafe on the corner together?”

Jisung almost sputtered. There was no way he would make it through the practice game after school in one piece.

“That sounds great,” Jisung said, finding a very genuine tone leaving his mouth.

The two decided they could go over each other’s answers for the first page then work on the rest of the packet the next day, so they spent the rest of the period working quietly. Jisung stole more than a few glances at the cute boy in front of him.

Neither boy caught the other, but Minho did the same.

Now that the two were talking more, Jisung found it easier to focus again. Chan didn’t ask him if anything was up all practice, even though Jisung was admittedly a little dazed while waiting in the dugout, but Jisung promised himself he would spill next time the elder asked.

The opportunity presented itself in a similar situation to earlier that week. Chan caught the younger post-shower staring into the depths of the locker room, which apparently was the last straw for the concerned older brother in him.

“Hey, bro, you good?” Chan asked, towel in hand.

“Actually, I can’t stop thinking about...” Jisung started, interrupting himself with laughter at Chan’s reaction. Clearly, he had been expecting another noncommittal response. “About a boy.”

“Gosh, I know the feeling,” Chan smirked, toweling off his hair, referring to his boyfriend. Woojin was a very talented artist and singer planning to go to some kind of arts college in the fall. The two were disgustingly in love, but Jisung couldn’t help but feel jealous every time he spotted them together. The elder sat on the bench next to him. “Let’s hear it then.”

“Okay so-”

Jisung told him the whole thing. Halfway through, Chan sent a text to Changbin telling him not to worry about them and just take Seungmin home.

“-and now I have an... outing with him tomorrow after school.”

“Good thing we don’t have practice, eh?” Chan said, patting himself on the back. As captain, he had quite a bit of say as far as practice schedule went.

“Ha, yeah, thanks.”

“So, this outing...” Chan said, with air quotes around the last word.

“We’re just working on an astronomy mini-project together at the cafe on the corner,” Jisung said, at this point too tired to try and hide the disappointment in his voice.

Chan nodded in sympathy, knowing all too well the ‘date-but-not-a-date’ phenomenon. “But you know how well ‘study buddies’ goes,” he said, lightening the mood with an eyebrow waggle.

Jisung laughed. “True, true. We’ll just have to see.”

“That’s the spirit,” Chan said, running his hand through his still damp hair and hitting his slightly wet hand on Jisung’s thigh.

“Damn your curls,” Jisung said, biting back laughter. Chan flipped his hair.

“You know you love them.”

Jisung scoffed playfully. “You want to grab dinner?”

Chan pulled the younger into a side hug. “Milkshake after?”

“Duh.”

⚾ ⚾ ⚾

Jisung felt as though he was living life in fast forward until astronomy. Chan must’ve told the other boys to lay off because no one on the team bothered him. His math teacher dragged on, speaking until the last possible moment, but Jisung was still the first student to catapult himself through the classroom door as soon as the bell rang.

Somehow Minho was still in astronomy first, and Jisung, flushed from practically sprinting through the halls, flashed him a smile. Minho nodded in response and waited until Jisung sat in front of him before speaking.

“Do you want to do a little more of the packet now and use some of our study time to just hang out?” Minho asked, and Jisung swore the ceiling opened up so he could see the gods smiling down on him.

“That sounds great!” Jisung replied, his voice only cracking a little. It made Minho grin though, so Jisung let it slide.

The two worked diligently until the bell rang, then walked out of the classroom together.

“How much of the packet did you get done?” Minho asked.

“The first two pages front and back, and the front of the third,” Jisung replied, “but I left a couple questions blank.”

Minho didn’t hide the surprise on his face. “Dude, what? I only made it through to the front of the second page, and even that was rough.”

“Eh, I guess it comes easily to me. I’ve always been super interested in space.”

“Me too, but I suck at algebra and I never took physics. I’m like, learning two subjects at once.”

Jisung adjusted his baseball cap and hooked his hands under his backpack straps. “I dunno, there’s something about the concepts that just click for me.”

“Hey, cut that apologetic tone, I like smart guys,” Minho said.

At that moment, a cluster of freshmen stampeded through the same doors Minho and Jisung were headed towards, nearly knocking Jisung over. He almost missed Minho’s statement.

Almost. Jisung flushed, and stopped walking for a beat. The other boy kept walking and Jisung could almost see his smug expression despite looking at the cotton of the black hoodie pulled over a baseball cap. (How Jisung was falling for a boy that did something so tacky was beyond him.) Jisung quickly caught up to Minho, who was walking over the thin strip of lawn that separated the school grounds from the sidewalk.

“I guess this just means I get to tutor you, huh?” He quipped. Two could play at this game. “What will people think? The jock tutoring the nerd-”

Jisung’s words were met with a piercing side glare from Minho that quickly dissolved into a smirk.

“I’m sure they’ll get over it.” Minho said, his lips tugging up at one corner.

Jisung was surprised he didn’t say anything about being called a nerd.

“And I’m hardly a nerd,” he continued.

There it was.

“What are you then?”

“Along for the ride.”

Jisung burst out laughing. At that point, the duo was practically at the door to the cafe. They put their backpacks on a comfy couch off to the side with a low table in front of it, and got in line to order. A couple of minutes later, drinks and treats in hand, they settled into their spot.

“If you don’t mind, could we save the tutoring for next time?” Minho asked.

Next time? Score.

“Uh, yeah sure,” Jisung started. “You could copy what I have that you don’t, and we could continue from there?”

Minho cracked a real smile this time, not just a smirk. Jisung may have melted.

“Sounds perfect.” Minho said. “If I’m being honest, I kinda wanted to just hang out with you and talk outside of school.”

“If _I’m_ being honest,” Jisung said, fighting a blush, “I thought you’d never ask.”

The boys only ended up doing half a page of the packet together, and talked until dinnertime. They figured they had the whole rest of the weekend to do the work anyway. As the hours slid by, both boys found themselves scooting closer to one another on the couch, until their whole legs were pressed against each other. Jisung took a lull in conversation to drape his arm over Minho’s shoulders. He stiffened for just a fraction of a second, but relaxed immediately after. They stayed that way until they decided they should get home for dinner. They both left the cafe, Minho walking toward the school and Jisung going the opposite direction.

Jisung didn’t think he would ever stop smiling. If he’d said it out loud, Minho would have agreed.

They met again that Sunday to finish the packet, for real this time. Nothing much happened besides actual homework, but Minho did put his head on Jisung’s shoulder when the work was finally done. He left it there for quite a while while Jisung read a little of the book Minho had brought. (Minho had let his eyes slip closed. Maybe he fell asleep. What of it if he did?)

School on Monday was boring. So was Tuesday. The rest of the week was more of the same: school, Minho time in astronomy, practice, homework, sleep, repeat. Thursday at practice the team received the schedule for the regular season games, and the first game was at home the following Wednesday. At this point, everyone knew about Jisung’s... _thing_ with Minho (with some help from Chan at Jisung’s blessing) and he was prepared for the onslaught of bullying disguised as encouragement from the team to invite him to the game.

They all tried their hands at convincing, and Jisung held firm that he wouldn’t do it.

He gave in before Chan even opened his mouth.

“I don’t know why they even try anymore,” Chan said.

Jisung rolled his eyes, but smiled.

⚾⚾⚾

Before he even sat down in astronomy the next day, Jisung was already asking Minho if he would go to the game. He nervously word-vimited for a whole five minutes before pausing to catch his breath, during which time Minho responded, simply, “yes.”

“Wait, really?” Jisung said, surprised Minho couldn’t hear the record scratch in his brain.

“Of course,” Minho said, smiling. “I like watching games and you seem very excited about it. Plus I would love to support you.”

Jisung flushed, and finally took his seat, unceremoniously dumping his backpack on the floor. He couldn’t wipe the grin off of his face for the whole period, during which they watched some NASA program about Mars because it was a Friday before a long weekend and the teacher didn’t want to teach as much as the kids didn’t want to sit through the last period of the day. The bell rang, and despite being separated for a moment in the throngs of students, Jisung and Minho walked through the halls next to each other.

For once in their lives, Jisung didn’t hook his hands through his backpack straps and Minho didn’t shove his in his hoodie pockets. Their hands brushed between them, and while the contact sent a jolt through Jisung’s arm, he wanted more than anything to grab the other boy’s hand.

So he did.

The touch was timid at first, but then the corner of Minho’s mouth quirked up and he adjusted the grip so their hands were comfortably laced together. It was a simple thing really, people held hands all the time, but there was something about this _specific_ hand-holding that made Jisung feel excited and content at the same time. An easy energy settled on the boy’s shoulders, and again neither boy could stop smiling on the whole walk to the front doors of the school. They parted ways without a verbal goodbye; just a hand squeeze and a mutual, genuine smile.

Jisung was excited to sleep in that Monday - the teachers had meetings or something, he didn’t care - but he was also sad he wouldn’t be able to see Minho for over three whole days. They should’ve made plans for the weekend, but both were too preoccupied with hand-holding to think of something that smart.

Useless gays, the both of them.

⚾ ⚾ ⚾

How Jisung survived until game day was a mystery. He hadn’t worked up the courage to invite Minho to sit with the team at lunch (that would wait until after the game, he decided) but he did move to the seat next to him in astronomy. They definitely didn’t hold hands under the table for the whole period. No, that would be ridiculous. It was just a more convenient way to work together on classwork. Totally.

Given the circumstances, Jisung found himself feeling confident about the game. He and the team were working hard on all of the components of the game, running drills, working in the gym, and playing quick scrimmage games to run through different plays. Any more and they would be over-practicing, and that was often worse than not preparing enough. The only thing he was worried about was remembering Minho was watching and losing his cool on the field. But he quickly pushed that thought away as soon as it surfaced.

“Hey, the game doesn’t start for another hour,” Jisung said as the period was ending. “Do you want to grab some food before I have to be there for warm-ups?”

He didn’t look at Minho while he asked, but he ran his thumb over the hand he was holding under the table.

“That sounds great,” Minho said. Jisung still wasn’t looking, but he could hear the smile in his voice. Jisung smiled, too.

“I have half an hour between school and warm-ups, so would you mind going to the place right next to school?” Jisung looked up to meet Minho’s eyes.

“I’ll go anywhere as long as you’re there,” Minho said without breaking eye contact. Jisung’s face practically cracked in half with a smile. Minho couldn’t keep up his poker face for long - not with Jisung practically glowing in front of him - and broke into a similar grin.

It’s not often that people can pinpoint the exact moment they knew they were in love, but in that moment, Jisung knew.

The half hour in the deli next to the school flew by, and before he knew it, Jisung was sprinting back to the school to make it to the locker room. Another half hour later, the team was walking onto the field while the announcer read off the starters on each team, and pressed play on the national anthem on the loudspeakers.

Finally, the first game of the season was underway, and Jisung took his position centerfield. He did what he did best, disappearing into his own head, but this time he had tunnel vision focused on the game and not a boy. He caught balls, threw them in for a few double-plays, and hit well when he was at bat at other points in the game.

By the fourth inning, each team had three home runs, and everyone was focused on keeping up the tie or gaining a point, depending on which team was hitting. The visiting team wasn’t exactly a rival, to put it lightly, but both groups had brought their a-game for the first one of the season. Since they were a high school league, the games only lasted seven innings, so they were already over halfway through the game. Both teams felt the energy from the crowd urging them to do well. It was at that point, when he saw how the audience’s energy was affecting his teammates, that Jisung remembered that Minho was watching.

Instead of getting nervous, though, he continued playing as hard as he could, hoping to make him proud. He already knew Minho liked him, so there wasn’t anything for him to prove there, so he just focused on making him happy. It was all the inspiration he needed.

The tie lasted until the bottom of the sixth inning, when Seungmin hit a home run. The crowd went wild and the team took a minute to celebrate amongst themselves. They didn’t score again that inning, but home field advantage gave them the assurance that one run was all they needed. If the visiting school didn’t score during their turn at bat in the top of the seventh, the home team would win. Jisung and all of his teammates had their fingers crossed.

Their coach called a time out after the first batter got out. The team regrouped, stretched, and discussed a little bit of strategy before Chan took over and lead them all in a couple of deep breaths. It felt silly at first, but Jisung found this really helped his nerves. As they were breaking for the game to resume, Chan caught Jisung’s eye and winked. Jisung smiled, and was ready to play the best inning possible.

He took his place back in center field. Not many balls came his way, but he didn’t let his guard down. The voice in his head, telling him to make Minho proud, kept him focused.

Before Jisung knew it, second had a runner and there was one out left before the game was over. All that had to happen was for the batter to get out, and the team would win the first game of the season. Jisung watched diligently as Chan pitched. The batter had two strikes. If the universe was going to let them off easy, Chan would strike him out.

Of course, the universe never makes anything easy.

The batter hit the ball, and it soared over the pitcher’s mound and second base. The batter hesitated for a bit before he took off running, and it gave Jisung the precious extra seconds he needed to get in position to catch the ball before the runner reached the first. In that moment, winning the game was planted firmly on Jisung’s shoulders. It was up to him making this catch.

The voice in his head increased in volume.

Make Minho proud.

Jisung squinted into the setting sun, and felt the ball as it made a satisfying thump! and landed squarely in his glove. The announcer was reporting excitedly that the runner was out.

The game was over, and Jisung’s team had won! Jisung helped them win! He broke into a smile as his teammates came running toward him, yelling excitedly and clapping him on the back in thanks and congratulations. Chan pulled him into a sweaty hug, and soon everyone else on the team joined. They disbanded, and the team went over to the stands to greet the people they knew in the crowd.

Jisung took off his hat and ran a hand through his sweaty hair, and scanned the bleachers for Minho. They spotted each other, and Minho was already making his way down to the field, a huge smile on his face. And was that- eyeliner? When did that happen? Jisung swore he wasn’t wearing any in the deli earlier...

No matter. Minho was there and he was smiling, and that was all Jisung could think about in that moment.

Minho attacked him in a hug as soon as they were an arm’s length apart. It may have been his mind playing tricks on him in the post-game adrenaline rush, but he swore he felt Minho place a kiss on his cheek.

“I’m so happy for you!” Minho said once they separated. “This was so exciting!”

Jisung chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “T-thanks,” he said, suddenly bashful.

“And I can’t believe I haven’t seen you in your uniform yet!” Minho said, taking in the whole ensemble. He leaned closer, which confused Jisung for a second. “You look good,” he said in a hushed voice with a smirk on his lips. When he stood straight, the only evidence of the compliment was the blush on Jisung’s cheeks.

Jisung was speechless until Minho reached up to take the baseball cap off of Jisung’s head and place it on his own.

“Hey you don’t want that, it’s covered in my hair sweat!” Jisung exclaimed, making grabby hands.

Minho rolled his eyes.

“Does it look like I care?” He asked. “Maybe I wanted something of yours, because you already have something of mine.” Minho busied his hands with putting up the hood on his hoodie and tucking it behind his ears. (Nerd.)

“And what is that?” Jisung asked, wracking his brain for what he could’ve stolen from Minho.

“...my heart,” Minho said, looking at Jisung through his lashes.

“Oh my god.” Somehow, Jisung’s blush deepened. “Oh, my god.”

Minho’s face was covered in worry at that reaction. “If that was too far, I’m sorry, I-”

“Damn it,” Jisung said, cutting him off. “I’m in love with a loser.”

Jisung continued blushing, but smiled as Minho flushed to match. Jisung reached to pull Minho into another hug, and their bodies fit together like puzzle pieces. They stayed like that for a bit, standing still in the crowd of players and spectators trading thanks and congratulations.

“Hey, the team is going out for ice cream, do you-” Jisung started.

“Yes.”

⚾ ⚾ ⚾

They’d parted ways after that, Jisung going to the locker room to grab his bag and get a ride to the ice cream place from Chan. Seungmin was riding over with Changbin, so Jisung threw his stuff into the back seat and sat shotgun.

“So, I saw you and Minho together after the game and almost, uh- melted,” Chan said as they waited for the car to start.

“Oh, like you and Woojin are any better,” Jisung said, laughing. Chan smirked in response.

“Touche.” They rode with just the radio on for a bit. “I didn’t get to really congratulate you after the game, man! That was awesome!”

“Thanks,” the younger responded, bashful again.

“And if you want to sit at a separate table with your boy I won’t let the guys give you shit for it,” Chan said.

Jisung smiled. “Thanks, captain.”

Chan parked, and he and Jisung walked into the ice cream parlor to find almost all of the team already there, with Minho sitting at a separate table, but still close to the group. As soon as their eyes met, Jisung felt incredibly stupid for not asking if he needed a ride over. He smiled as he approached the table though, because Minho was still wearing his cap with his ears sticking out from his hood.

“Hey, sorry for leaving you hanging for transportation,” Jisung said, sitting down across from Minho.

“Oh, no worries. I drove over.”

“You what!?”

“I... drove?”

“You didn’t tell me you could drive.”

“You never asked.” Jisung supposed that was true. “I’ve had my licence for a bit but my sister made me take the bus until I could legally drive us both to school.”

“Maybe you could drive me too?” Jisung asked, not really expecting anything from it.

“Hmm, maybe.”

“Ha, okay. So, do you want to order? My treat,” Jisung said, the perfect gentleman.

“Nooo, this is celebrating you,” Minho argued. “I’m treating.”

Jisung let out a breathy laugh. “What if we buy each other’s?”

“Works for me.”

The boys each got their cup of ice cream, eating it happily and chatting while the sun fully disappeared under the horizon. Periodically, Jisung would be swept into a conversation with the team, but Minho sat and watched him interact with his friends with a small smile on his lips.

A bit later, when their ice cream sad abandoned and melting on the table, Chan interrupted to let Jisung know he was leaving. Jisung panicked and said he could leave with Minho, which turned out to be exactly what Minho had been meaning to ask Jisung about. Smiling, Chan playfully hit Jisung on the shoulder, then left the ice cream shop with Woojin. It was sickening, really.

The two sat in the shop for quite a while after the rest of the team slowly trickled out to go home or to some other afterparty Jisung couldn’t bring himself to care about. Neither of them could remember who started holding hands with whom on top of the table, but at the same time neither wanted to let go. They decided to call it quits and head out to Minho’s car a little later, holding hands until they had to separate to get into their seats.

Jisung didn’t realize he hadn’t given Minho his address until they were turning on to a road the baseball player didn’t recognize.

“Honestly, if you’re planning on killing me, I would not mind in this moment,” Jisung said, joking to disguise his slight panic.

“What? Oh, nonono, that’s not-” Minho stuttered, Jisung’s comment obviously pulling him out of his thoughts. “I figured that since it’s not too late and the sky is so clear, we could, uh, look at the stars for a bit? Now that I say it out loud, I guess it’s a little cheesy but-”

Minho took Jisung’s silence as him not wanting to participate, but it was exactly the opposite: he couldn’t believe Minho had planned something so thoughtful and lovely.

“It’s perfect,” Jisung said before the other could doubt himself further. “I would love to.”

“Oh, but it’s chilly out and you only have your uniform... I think I have a hoodie in the trunk?”

“Even better.” Jisung brought their still-clasped hands up to plant a kiss on the knuckles.

They drove for a bit more, until Minho parked in a secluded clearing in a local park Jisung hadn’t explored before. The main roads and houses were far behind the trees, so the boys had an uninterrupted view of the stars. Minho turned off the engine and popped the trunk before turning the headlights off. He switched on the flashlight he kept in the center console, and left to search for a sweatshirt. Jisung met him behind the car, gladly accepting the first hoodie they got their hands on. The boys walked back around the car to sit on the hood and lay back on the windshield.

Jisung finally let himself look up at the sky and the view, though familiar, never failed to fill him with a sense of awe. He reached for Minho’s hand beside him, and when he found it, he grabbed it and gave a light squeeze.

“Thank you,” Jisung whispered, not wanting to break the perfect silence of the early spring night.

Minho let go of his hand, only to pull his body close to his own. They shifted for a moment before finding a comfortable position for both of them, then lay there together for quite some time. Jisung couldn’t be sure at what he looked at longer: the stars above or Minho’s face next to him. The older boy caught him staring, and smiled softly. He placed a feather-light kiss on Jisung’s nose.

“You missed,” he giggled.

Minho raised his eyebrows, but any confusion was quickly wiped away when Jisung adjusted his neck to press a kiss to Minho’s lips. They were a bit chapped from the cool air, but the warmth coming from his body made up for it. Jisung laughed a little into the kiss, then pulled back slightly to take his baseball cap off of Minho’s head and place it between their bodies.

“You’re adorable, but it’s getting in the way,” Jisung qualified, before ducking to make their lips meet again.

The position was a little awkward, given they were cuddling on the hood and windshield of a car, but they didn’t need anything spectacular to share lazy kisses under the stars. Minho’s hand came up to hold the side of Jisung’s neck and play with the longer hairs that tickled his nape. Jisung moved his arm to drape it over Minho’s waist and pull him closer. One of them had opened their mouths and the other reciprocated, deepening the kiss, but neither bothered to keep track of who started it, only caring about the pure joy they felt in that moment. The adoration was billowing off of both of them and mixing with the sweet scent of a forest at night.

A cool breeze ghosted across the boys’ moistening skin, causing them both to shiver then laugh into the kiss. They tried to keep going, not wanting it to end, but eventually devolved into smiling with their foreheads pressed together.

“We should probably go home soon,” Minho whispered.

“Mmm,” Jisung hummed, pressing kiss to Minho’s lips.

“Come on, you just had a game.” Another kiss. “It’s late.” Still another. “You need to rest for school tomorrow, you’ve got to be exhausted.”

One more kiss. Then Minho sat up, bringing Jisung with him, and slid off of the hood of the car.

They drove in a happy silence, holding hands over the center console the whole way. Jisung absentmindedly brushed his thumb over the back of Minho’s hand.

He silently thanked whomever would listen for sending Minho into his life. He would never admit to that out loud, though.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! i really had a great time writing this. i love living vicariously through fic writing, therefore i hope you like living vicariously through fic reading.  
> comments and kudos are what inspires me to write more (and also live another day oof) so don't be shy!!  
> if you want, you can also follow me on tumblr: [main](%E2%80%9Dgaymumbling.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D) and [kpop sideblog](%E2%80%9Dhyunjjins.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)
> 
>  
> 
> special thanks to jacob ([his tumblr](%E2%80%9Djisquirrell.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)) and emi ([her tumblr](%E2%80%9Dspearones.tumblr.com%E2%80%9D)) for listening to me screaming about this au for almost a whole 3 weeks lol i couldn't do it without you both <333 (also emi is back on tumblr after having deleted her blog!! go give her some love and help her regain her following bc as an amazing writer she deserves every last one of the followers she had uwu)


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